A Parisian eBay "colleague" is selling a Syntauri keyboard with no warranty nor disk nor expansion card and I am interested in buying it.
I know, it is like having a car with no engine (or replace with a more adequate image) but I was wondering whether having a such a card is: - difficult to find and buy (because it is rare ;-) - difficult to copy (because of specific ICs) - easy to clone (thanks to Carte Blanche)
> A Parisian eBay "colleague" is selling a Syntauri keyboard with no > warranty nor disk nor expansion card and I am interested in buying it.
> I know, it is like having a car with no engine (or replace with a more > adequate image) but I was wondering whether having a such a card is: > - difficult to find and buy (because it is rare ;-) > - difficult to copy (because of specific ICs) > - easy to clone (thanks to Carte Blanche)
It's not a particularly complex card (I don't have one, but I've seen one), since it is basically a multiplexer keyboard scanner.
There are a couple of models of the keyboard--one velocity-sensing and one not. The timing requirements for scanning the velocity-sensing one are pretty tight, since time from "break upper contact" to "make lower contact" is in the millisecond range, and is used to determine velocity.
> > A Parisian eBay "colleague" is selling a Syntauri keyboard with no > > warranty nor disk nor expansion card and I am interested in buying it.
> > I know, it is like having a car with no engine (or replace with a more > > adequate image) but I was wondering whether having a such a card is: > > - difficult to find and buy (because it is rare ;-) > > - difficult to copy (because of specific ICs) > > - easy to clone (thanks to Carte Blanche)
> It's not a particularly complex card (I don't have one, but I've seen > one), since it is basically a multiplexer keyboard scanner.
> There are a couple of models of the keyboard--one velocity-sensing and > one not. The timing requirements for scanning the velocity-sensing > one are pretty tight, since time from "break upper contact" to "make > lower contact" is in the millisecond range, and is used to determine > velocity.
> "The wastebasket is our most important design > tool--and it's seriously underused."
Thank you, Michael,
I am now the proud owner of an Alpha Syntauri keyboard (s/n A003356) with one pedal and no interface card. See http://www.brutal-deluxe/public/ in the Alpha Syntauri folder - Disk images collected from garberstreet.com.
How do I determine the kind of keyboard I have? Just uncover it?
> > A Parisian eBay "colleague" is selling a Syntauri keyboard with no > > warranty nor disk nor expansion card and I am interested in buying it.
> > I know, it is like having a car with no engine (or replace with a more > > adequate image) but I was wondering whether having a such a card is: > > - difficult to find and buy (because it is rare ;-) > > - difficult to copy (because of specific ICs) > > - easy to clone (thanks to Carte Blanche)
> It's not a particularly complex card (I don't have one, but I've seen > one), since it is basically a multiplexer keyboard scanner.
> There are a couple of models of the keyboard--one velocity-sensing and > one not. The timing requirements for scanning the velocity-sensing > one are pretty tight, since time from "break upper contact" to "make > lower contact" is in the millisecond range, and is used to determine > velocity.
> "The wastebasket is our most important design > tool--and it's seriously underused."
: : Thank you, Michael, : : I am now the proud owner of an Alpha Syntauri keyboard (s/n A003356) : with one pedal and no interface card. See http://www.brutal-deluxe/public/ : in the Alpha Syntauri folder - Disk images collected from : garberstreet.com. : : How do I determine the kind of keyboard I have? Just uncover it? : : Antoine
Toinet wrote: > On 3 nov, 21:02, "Michael J. Mahon" <mjma...@aol.com> wrote:
>>Toinet wrote:
>>>Hello There,
>>>A Parisian eBay "colleague" is selling a Syntauri keyboard with no >>>warranty nor disk nor expansion card and I am interested in buying it.
>>>I know, it is like having a car with no engine (or replace with a more >>>adequate image) but I was wondering whether having a such a card is: >>>- difficult to find and buy (because it is rare ;-) >>>- difficult to copy (because of specific ICs) >>>- easy to clone (thanks to Carte Blanche)
>>It's not a particularly complex card (I don't have one, but I've seen >>one), since it is basically a multiplexer keyboard scanner.
>>There are a couple of models of the keyboard--one velocity-sensing and >>one not. The timing requirements for scanning the velocity-sensing >>one are pretty tight, since time from "break upper contact" to "make >>lower contact" is in the millisecond range, and is used to determine >>velocity.
>>I'm sure someone has good scans of the card.
>>-michael
> Thank you, Michael,
> I am now the proud owner of an Alpha Syntauri keyboard (s/n A003356) > with one pedal and no interface card. See http://www.brutal-deluxe/public/ > in the Alpha Syntauri folder - Disk images collected from > garberstreet.com.
> How do I determine the kind of keyboard I have? Just uncover it?
I got myself connected with suitable bandwidth and looked at your photos. You have a velocity-sensing keyboard.
Note the two "rails" that each keyswitch wire passes between. The velocity is sensed as the time difference between the "break" on the normally closed rail and the "make" on the normally open rail.
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